


A (Not Entirely) Unexpected Love

by TheRubyStorm



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, But only slight spoilers, Childbirth, F/M, I didn't know I was pregnant, Mpreg, Sorry for the lack of tags, The Author Regrets Nothing, bless this fandom, graphic birth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 22:07:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18669310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRubyStorm/pseuds/TheRubyStorm
Summary: "Labor?! But I’m a man!”“Yes, you've told me that many times before.” Pepper shushed him as if this were all perfectly normal.“No, you don’t understand. I’m a MAN. There’s no way I could be pregnant, much less in labor. It’s not physically possible!”





	A (Not Entirely) Unexpected Love

**Author's Note:**

> So I haven't seen Avengers: Endgame in theaters yet (recovering from surgery) but because I don't mind being spoiled beforehand, I looked up spoilers and O...m..g...did that hurt!
> 
> I won't spoil anything in the notes, but needing some mpreg fluff after all that, I decided to revive one of my old writing from at least five years ago for some updates and a quick rewrite and I'm actually happier with it now than its original version.
> 
> Plus I may have a Captain America/Reader mpreg birth fic in the works so keep your eyes open for that!
> 
> Enjoy!

“Tony, can you hear me? Sweetie, please open your eyes…” a woman's voice said in the distance, one laced with fear and concern and that he knew he'd recognize anywhere. Pepper…

“Don’t worry. He going to be fine… Just hang on man. Everything’s going to be alright…” He recognized that voice too. Rhodes…definitely Rhodes.

Although his eyes were closed, the first thing Tony Stark registered was that he was somewhere bright. Almost obnoxiously bright… He could also sense from the tones in their voices that something had gone very, very wrong. He tried to think back to what had happened leading up to this moment. It had been a regular day; working on updates for his latest suit, dinner with Pepper, Rhodes had come by for adjustments for the apparatus that kept his legs moving, a few drinks between friends in memory of those they'd lost in the snap…

But after that, everything was just a blur. He didn’t remember there being an accident, nor being ill; yet he couldn’t think of how he possibly got to this point. Blacked out drunk? Not likely. Not anymore at least. Forcing his eyes open, he soon realized he was laid out on a stretcher rolling down a corridor with Pepper and Rhodes following on either side.

 

"Where am I?" He mumbled as he tried to process his surroundings.

"Tony! Thank god you’re awake!" Pepper exclaimed, worry etched on her face. "You blacked out on the way to the hospital."

"Hospital?” So there was an accident. Something bad if a hospital was necessary. But he wasn’t in any pain…at least not that he was aware of. Not to mention that the two of them seemed perfectly fine. “What happened? Why am I…" Looking down, his voice trailed off as he realized that his stomach had nearly tripled in size.

"What in the hell is going on?!" he nearly screamed, suddenly in a scramble to get off the still moving stretcher. "What’s wrong with me?!"

To his surprise, Pepper was looking at him like he had gone crazy. “You don’t remember? You went into labor.”

"Labor?! But I’m a man!”

“Yes, you've told me that many times before.” Pepper shushed him as if this were all perfectly normal.

“No, you don’t understand. I’m a MAN. There’s no way I could be pregnant, much less in labor. It’s not physically possible!”

She didn’t respond to his declaration; only casting a worried look at Rhodes. “He doesn’t remember anything…” she muttered sadly.

“It’s just stress.” He reassured her. “My mother's got plenty of stories about the crazy things my father said when he had me. It’s perfectly normal.”

“When your father had you?!” Tony exclaimed. “So you’re saying you…that your father…god the world's gone mad…” He pressed his hands to his forehead in frustration; this was all too much to take in. Yet as the stretcher moved further down the corridor passing several other men who seemed to be in the same predicament, maybe it was actually…

No…

It couldn’t be possible…

 

Turning to Pepper, he grabbed hold of her hand. “Sweetie, listen to me. There’s got to be some mistake. There’s no way I could…” His sentence stopped short as an intense wave of pain rolled through his stomach, wrapping around him with an iron grip. Could that…actually be…a contraction?! No, that was impossible… Yet, as he placed a hand to his rounded stomach, he was more than a little surprised to find that once soft flesh was now hard under his touch, followed by the growing feeling of something wet between his legs.

“I…I think something just popped…” Tony whispered as his eyes went wide.

Pepper and Rhodes each exchanged a look, both knowing exactly what was happening as Tony's free hand grabbed onto hers, letting out a moan of pain as the next surge grabbed hold of his body.

"Just hang on a little bit longer. We’re almost there." he could hear Pepper say as his grip tightened around her hand.

Somewhere through the pain, Tony kept trying to run the situation through his head logically. He knew he was a man, at least he was the last time he checked. There was no was this could be possible… Could it?

* * *

 

It was all Tony could do to keep from panicking as the stretcher rolled into the maternity ward; the reality of the situation finally starting to sink in. After all, he was a man. Last he remembered, this was typically women's territory. There was no way that this could even be physically possible. Surely it was a mistake. But as the latest pang finally started to release its grip and bringing sweet relief, maybe the idea wasn’t as absurd as he actually thought.

As the stretcher then rolled into a private room, a young nurse who introduced herself as ‘Margo’ was already there waiting to help move him to a hospital bed with Pepper close by. Swinging his legs over the side, he moved to get to his feet and refused help from either of the two women reaching for him. Dignity as he knew it was gone; damn it he was going to hold on to what little was left. But as his feet touched the floor, the next surge ripped through him, bringing a silent gasp from his lips as hands reached for something to hold on to and found Pepper’s shoulder to lean on as he struggled to breathe through the pain. Just as quickly, Margo was quickly by his side, putting his arm over her shoulder to help Pepper shift him closer towards the bed.

 

"Cutting it kind of close, aren’t we Mr. Stark?" she said with a smile. A little too perky for his liking and he fought back the urge to swear.

But he could hardly hear her through the pain, letting out a moan as he felt something shift further down at its peak.

“Feels like my insides are falling out…" he managed through grit teeth.

"Seems like this one’s not hanging around.” The nurse replied, again much too happy about the issue concerning his insides wanting to be on the outside of his body.

“God damn it, not you too! This joke’s gone on far enough! I’m telling you, I’m not pregnant!!” Tony snapped, all attempts at being calm gone as he struggled to breathe.

 

It wasn’t long after they had managed to get him in the bed in that Rhodes had returned with the doctor-on-call, a kind, middle aged woman named Dr. Smythe who after a brief introduction and seeing Tony’s current physical state, requested that he’d allow her to do an internal exam to check on his progress to which he reluctantly agreed despite its absurdity in his mind. Maybe that would finally prove to everyone that he wasn’t losing his mind; that he wasn’t pregnant as they were claiming and that he had some other ailment. Certainly not a thought he wanted to entertain, but better that than…

“He’s complete.” Dr. Smythe’s words broke through his thoughts.

Definitely not the response he was expecting. “W-what? Come again?” he quietly asked, pretty sure that he could feel his heart sink into his stomach.

Looking up, Dr. Smythe gave him a smile as she removed her gloves. “You’re completely dilated.” She repeated. “It’s a good thing they got you here when they did; I doubt this baby would have waited much longer.” She then turned to Margo. “Can you go get a warming table from down the hall and help me set up for delivery? Mr Stark, I want you to try to rest for the next few contractions. Once we get everything set up, we’ll go ahead and see how you do with pushing.”

The doctor’s words echoed in his head. _Complete, delivery, pushing…_ This was happening. This was actually happening.  They were at a hospital, he was in labor, and they were about to have a…

“Oh god…” he moaned as he covered his face with his hands; partially to hide his panic from the others and partially to escape from the latest contraction that had wrapped itself around his mid-section. He glanced over at Pepper who, by comparison, didn’t seem to be nearly as nervous as he was. In truth, she bore all the excitement of a soon-to-be mother; as if she had been waiting all her life for this moment. While the doctor's words filled him with dread, they seemed to have the opposite reaction for her and she gave him a kiss that for the first time in his life, he didn't know how to react to it.

 

Wishing the two of them luck, Rhodes headed off to the waiting room with promises to call the other Avengers as the room became a flurry of activity while Dr. Smythe and various other nurses proceeded to prepare for the coming delivery.

Meanwhile, Pepper took Tony’s hand in hers as she sat down on the chair next to his bed, giving it a gentle squeeze of excitement.

"This is it. We’re about to be parents."

"I can’t…I can’t do this." Tony mumbled, trying to hide the tremor in his voice. “I can’t remember…

"Sure you can." She said softly as she ran her fingers through his hair. "We’ve been to all the classes and preparing for this moment for a long time. And I’m going to be right here every step of…"

"No. I mean, I can’t remember any of this.” he said, gesturing around the room and trying to fight back the tears. “I don’t remember getting pregnant or us going to classes or going into labor or…or any of it…" He swallowed hard, trying to get the lump back down his throat.

"Oh Tony… It’s going to be alright." She said as she wrapped him in her embrace, letting him rest his head on her shoulder as tears finally pushed through. "Everything’s going to work out. Once you see our little girl, it’ll all come back. You’ll love her as soon as you see her."

"See!" he cried. "I didn’t even remember that we’re having a girl…"

There was hardly time to say anything else as another contraction quickly grabbed hold of him, leaving him clinging on to Pepper’s shoulders for dear life and begging for it all to just go away.

* * *

“5…6…come on Tony, push…9…10.”

Being brought back to rest against the pillows behind him, Tony let out a moan of frustration at the lack of progress and tried to ignore the scent of blood in the air. “I can’t… I can’t do it anymore…”

“Yes you can. We could nearly see her head with that last one. Just hang on a little longer.”

“No…” He mumbled as he tossed his head against the pillow and relished the feeling of the ice cold cloth that Pepper replaced on his forehead. “Too tired…” Though he doubted even a year of sleep would be enough…

“Dr. Smythe, her heartbeat…”

“Grab the oxygen mask. He’s been going at it for over an hour now. Let him rest for the next contraction; try to build up his strength. They both need to…”

 

This sucked. He'd been through some pretty sucky situations before…but this really sucked… It’s been said by some that the best way to describe childbirth is basically like forcing a small watermelon through a drinking straw…

That wasn’t even the half of it.

There was no way to describe the pain, the unbearable pressure, the feeling that you’re liable to be torn in two, the ‘having your knees pulled as far back as they could to your chest while being bent in half and listening to someone count to ten more times than an episode of Sesame Street’ part of it…only to start the whole process over again on the next contraction. Not to mention doing all this with your lower regions on full display to anyone who'd happen to come in the room… It was a wonder to him that anyone would ever choose to do this more than once…

But that wasn’t the biggest thing on his mind. Not by a long shot. Their child was literally only minutes away from being born, but he had no feeling for this baby. And that worried him. What if Pepper was wrong? What if he couldn’t remember? How could he care for a child that until about an hour ago he didn’t even remember existed?

 

Trying to catch his breath before the next contraction, he barely noticed as Margo placed an oxygen mask over his face.

"What’s this for?" He asked.

"Heart rate is dropping more than we’d like during contractions." she replied, her usually annoying perkiness gone. "Try to take some deep breaths."

“Mine?”

“No; the baby’s. She’s having some trouble tolerating delivery…”

Hearing that the baby’s heart rate was low put his senses on high alert as he struggled to push himself up to look at the doctor. “What? What’s going on? What’s wrong with my baby?!” he asked, slightly surprising himself at the air of panic his voice had suddenly taken and the fact that it was the first time he had ever called her 'my'. Somewhere he felt Pepper squeeze his shoulder as she tried to hold him back.

Dr. Smythe tried to mask the concern in her voice as she looked towards the various machines tracking his and the baby's vitals. “She's having some pretty substantial decelerations in her heart rate. Some drops during delivery is normal, but her heart rate isn’t coming back up as fast as it should be. She’s not in distress yet, but the sooner we can get her delivered, the better.”

 

That’s what did it. He wasn’t going to let this baby…no…their baby…come to any harm. Not if he had anything to do with it. Feeling the next contraction starting all too soon, he reached for Pepper’s hand and nodded, prompting her and Margo to resume their positions as well. This was it. Knowing the routine, he took a deep breath and managed a push harder than he had so far, filled more than ever with a new determination to get this baby born quickly.

"That’s it Tony!" Dr. Smythe praised, encouraged by his sudden progress. "Keep on going just like that."

Blowing away the spent breath, he managed another and pushed again, feeling something shifting further down inside him than it had so far followed by an overwhelming feeling of pressure and something burning inside him. Somewhere during the third push, he could hear someone screaming as the burning hit its peak and it took a moment before he realized it was actually him.

"She’s right there!" Pepper could hardly contain the excitement in her voice as she watched from her position at his side. "I can see her head! Oh god, she’s got hair…"

 

And then with one more push…release. The intensity lifted, suddenly he could breathe and was all at once struggling to get that damn mask off his face.

“Is that it? Is she out? Is she okay?” His questions spilling out in a rush between breaths as the doctor quickly reached for a bulb syringe.

“Head’s out. Just suctioning her nose and mouth but she looks just fine. Already a good color.”

Suddenly overcome with an urge to see, he managed to once again lift his body up by his elbows and there, over the swell of his stomach, he finally caught sight of the back of a tiny head covered in dark hair.

“Oh my god there's a head…” he swallowed, unable to tear his eyes away from this person still halfway inside him. This was their baby. Their _actual_ baby. Coming out of his _actual_ body. Somewhere his mind was still screaming how impossible this all was and yet there was the undeniable evidence right in front of him. And god damn it if it wasn't the most amazing thing he'd seen in his life.

 

Somewhere behind him, he could hear a sniffle and couldn't help but steal a glance at Pepper who was freely crying now; smiling from ear to ear and looking at him like he was the greatest person in the world before leaving a few welcomed kisses on his lips.

“I'm so proud of you.” she gushed as she moved to let him lean against her before giving him another kiss. “You're absolutely amazing.”

“As if that were ever a question.” He managed to joke to which she rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

“I can't get over how much she already looks like you.” She added. “She definitely didn't get that head of hair from me.”

“Well if she was going to get something from me, I'd rather she get my hair.” he smirked as his expression quickly changed to a grimace. “There’s the next one…”

 

And he was gone again, deep in the throws of the contraction as he fought to see this thing through. Voices swirled around him past the sound of blood roaring in his ears; the doctor and Margo encouraging him to keep going on one side, Pepper holding him and whispering in his ear how much she loved him on the other. Past the haze, he could hear someone telling him to breathe, followed by pain again that someone said was shoulders…

And just as quickly as it started, it was over. A feeling of instant relief, followed by a surprising feeling of emptiness.

Exhausted, he let himself fall back against Pepper’s shoulder; his eyes tightly shut as he attempted to even out his breathing. It was the weight of something being placed on his chest that opened them once again; a tiny, squirming newborn looking at him wide dark eyes before deciding that she didn’t care much for her new surroundings and voiced it with a rather loud cry.

Then the tears started for him as well; partially from relief that he was sure now that she was okay, but mostly for the fact that this tiny life, this perfect blend of Pepper and himself that indeed already shared his dark hair…was really theirs…

 

“Hi… I’m your dad…” he whispered and marveled at how natural it already felt to say it. “I’m your daddy. God you’re so beautiful…” Beaming, he looked over to Pepper, tears streaming down his cheeks. “We did it. We actually did it.”

“What do you mean ‘we’? You did all the work, I was just the cheering squad.” she chuckled before wrapping him in a lingering kiss. “I’m so proud of you…”

“Thanks…” he managed to choke out before turning his attention back to their daughter, her cries already starting to calm as she was covered with a blanket to start cleaning her up. He couldn’t stop himself from marveling over every little thing about her; how thick her hair already was, that he could see his and Pepper’s features in her face and the delicate pucker of her lips. And as her tiny fingers wrapped around his large one, he already knew he was wrapped around her little finger. Funny, he thought, how Pepper had been right. It really was love at first sight and he knew that he’d be there to protect her from this moment on. And was in that moment, he knew what to name her.

 

“Morgan. We've got to call her Morgan.”

“After my uncle? You mean you were serious about that?” She asked, surprised. “I thought you said that's what we'd name our son.”

“But you have to admit, she looks just like a ‘Morgan’, don't you think?” He asked with a smile before letting out a sigh of contentment as he looked at the brand new life lying on his chest.

“My god… We’re…we’re a family…”

* * *

With a start, Tony sat straight up in bed, gasping for breath as he looked around the bedroom.  The lamp on the nightstand cast the only light in the room, leaving it wrapped in a soft glow. And laying on his chest, a copy of “A Child Is Born”; a book that Pepper had purchased early on in her pregnancy that he remembered he’d started thumbing through earlier that evening.

'Well that explains the crazy dream… I really need to start watching what I read before bed.' he thought to himself as he set the book on the table before turning off the light.

Settling down in the covers, his gaze turned to Pepper’s sleeping form laying next to him, no doubt dreaming of their soon-to-be born child as her hand gently rested on the growing bulge of her stomach.

After that dream, he couldn’t possibly imagine anybody wanting to go through that more than once. And yet here she was; taking it on without a second thought; the morning sickness, the mood swings, all so that they could have a family. And he loved her all the more for it.

Wrapping an arm about her, he smiled as she moved in closer to him, a contented sigh escaping her lips as she rested her head against his chest while his other hand drifted to the warmth of her belly in an attempt to feel the child currently moving inside her.

  
"Are you okay?" she mumbled, her voice drowsy from sleep.

“Yeah… Just a crazy dream.”

“Was it bad?”

His hand flew to his stomach and he breathed a sigh of relief when he realized nothing was there before settling it back on hers.

"No…I…I was pregnant…"

That caught her attention. She raised her head enough to give him a look. “What exactly have you been putting in your drinks?”

“Nothing unusual I swear.” he chuckled as she settled back into his arms, smiling as he’d occasionally feel their child press a foot into his hand as if it realized he was there.

“Thank you…” he said after a moment.

“For what?” she yawned.

“For…for everything. For growing this tiny human inside you. For doing all this for me…for us, so that we can have a family. You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever known and I love you.” he said as he pressed his lips to the top of her head.

“I love you too… And Tony?”

“Yeah?

“Whatever it is you’re putting in your drinks, you can have as much of it as you want.”

"That's greatly appreciated. Thanks." He smirked at her response. "Hey Pep?"

"Hmm?" She mumbled, nearly asleep now.

"What do you think about naming the baby 'Morgan'?"

 

_**-The End-** _


End file.
